Presently, some battery-powered mobile terminal devices (hereinafter referred to as mobile terminals) that can be used outdoors, e.g., smartphones, have a graphic feature that allows moving images shot using, for example, an installed camera to be watched using the mobile terminal. Such mobile terminals also have a moving image reproduction function and an Internet connection function and enable contents of a moving image site on the Internet to be watched. Mobile terminals have been provided that enable the viewing of personal pictures and moving images obtained over the Internet and stored in, for example, an auxiliary storage apparatus of a home-use personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC).
The frame rate of TV moving image contents is, for example, 24 fps (frame per second), and transferring such moving image contents remarkably increases network traffic. In some network environments, transferring TV moving image contents excessively suppresses a LAN (Local Area Network) bandwidth, and this could possibly lead to a network delay. In many cases, domestic LANs have a narrow bandwidth and are thus likely to cause a network delay.
Watching moving images obtained over the Internet and saved in a PC using a mobile terminal in a streaming format could make a network transmission rate lower than a moving image reproduction rate, leading to a risk of a frame loss in the reproducing of the moving images.
A method for preventing such a frame loss could provide a buffer for hardware of a mobile terminal for displaying video images. However, portable terminals cannot secure a space for implementing a sufficient buffer to receive moving images.
A system provides multimedia streaming services while adaptively changing a transmission rate in accordance with a change in network bandwidth. The system includes a multimedia streaming server and a multimedia streaming client. In accordance with network bandwidth information input from outside and a result of analysis of metadata corresponding to multimedia data to be supplied, the multimedia streaming server streams multimedia data corresponding to a predetermined service quality level. Using size information of the multimedia data and a time at which the multimedia data is received, the multimedia streaming client measures bandwidth of a network to which the multimedia streaming server is connected. The multimedia streaming client transmits the measured network bandwidth information to the multimedia streaming server.
An information processing system performs the following traffic control. The information processing system includes a moving image delivery server, a relay server that includes a moving image reproduction program for reproducing moving image data delivered from the moving image delivery server, and a client terminal that receives, from the relay server, screen information associated with reproduction data for the moving image data and that displays corresponding images on a screen. The information processing system controls traffic of a communication between the moving image delivery server, the relay server, and the client terminal. The information processing system includes quality measuring means for measuring a communication quality on a communication line A between the relay server and the client terminal. The information processing system also includes upstream specifying means for specifying an amount of delivered moving image data within a communication line B between the moving image delivery server and the relay server, i.e., an amount corresponding to an amount of screen information of a communication data amount accepted with regard to the measured communication quality a of the communication line A. The information processing system further includes upstream control means for performing control such that an amount of moving image data to be delivered to the relay server from the moving image delivery server via the communication line B can be adjusted to the specified amount of moving image data.